


Kneel

by reyofdarkness (mitslits)



Category: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Genre: F/M, One-sided Reylo, just sort of a mini character study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitslits/pseuds/reyofdarkness
Summary: Kylo brings Rey before Snoke.





	Kneel

_ You will not bow before Snoke. _

Rey’s words. A lie. 

Kylo takes his place before his Supreme Leader then as he has every time before. On his knees, head bent, eyes downcast. It is the way of things.

Rey shows no such submission. She stands as tall as ever, fists and jaw clenched, the same fire in her eyes Kylo had seen the first time they’d met and every time thereafter. 

He feels sick when Snoke commends her for it.

Their mighty supreme leader will never see what Rey can truly become.

Kylo is her only hope. As she is his.

The future she claims to have seen will never come to pass. He is as he said he was: a monster. His path, wherever it may lead, does not end in redemption. 

Yet something inside him aches when Snoke pulls Rey to her knees. This is not her place. Kneeling before Snoke is not where she belongs. 

Kylo’s vision comes back to him, the two of them side by side, defeating all who would oppose them. 

And Snoke sentences Rey to die. 

Kylo picks up his lightsaber and looks down at Rey, forced down before him. Even then, every inch of her screams defiance. There is something in her eyes, but it isn’t fear. 

Snoke is speaking, but it’s white noise in Kylo’s mind. His attention is only on Rey. 

_ You won’t die this way. I won’t let you.  _

“And kills his true enemy,” Snoke snarls. 

Kylo flexes his fingers. It is not Rey who dies. 

They fight as one against Snoke’s guards. Together, they are unstoppable, as Kylo had known they would be. They are made for this, she and him. 

The fight ends, and Rey clings to the foolish idea of hope that the Rebels have put in her head. “Let it all die,” he tells her. There is no room for the past in their future. 

Her refusal pierces him to the heart. 

As Kylo wills the lightsaber to him, he wonders what will happen if he loses. Will Rey kill him? Will she have the strength? A small voice in the back of his mind asks what he will do if he  _ wins _ . 

The lightsaber cracks in two and they are sent flying from the force of it. Kylo’s world goes dark. 

When he wakes, he is Supreme Leader, and Rey is gone. 

“The Supreme Leader is dead.” 

“Long live the Supreme Leader.” 

Kylo stands tall and marches from the room. He will never kneel again. 


End file.
